A Local Poem Carving a Green Hole - Kawachinagano City, Osaka Prefecture, 1990s

A Local Poem Carving a Green Hole - Kawachinagano City, Osaka Prefecture, 1990s
In the hills of Kawachinagano City, Osaka Prefecture, there was a landscape named Amanoyama Country Club. Although located in the suburbs of a city, this golf course, which still retains the greenery of a virgin forest, faced environmental contradictions because of its natural features. In the 1990s, after the bursting of the bubble economy, environmental awareness slowly permeated every corner of Japanese life, and pesticide contamination and water quality deterioration at golf courses came under criticism. Against this backdrop, the club tried its own method of environmental restoration.

First, a charcoal-making shed was built on the premises, where logging branches and pruning wood are burned to produce charcoal in-house. The charcoal is then submerged in ponds and waterways to absorb and remove pesticide residues from the water. As a result, the once vanished scene of genji botaru fireflies dancing in the night has reportedly returned. In addition, the wood vinegar solution obtained from the charcoal-making process is used to control pests, and powdered charcoal ash is sprayed on lawns and soil to improve soil quality. In this way, the golf course operation and environmental conservation were combined.

This approach was based on the ancient and steady technology of charcoal, adsorption, and microbial purification. The water treatment technology using activated carbon continues to be studied as an old and new technology using charcoal as a material. In addition, the guidelines for golf course environmental management include a "water purification plan using charcoal and sand filtration on the course," and the same philosophy is still alive today.

Junmei Okada (Amanoyama CC) said, "We aim to create a place where play and the environment resonate without cutting away the contours of nature," suggesting club management with environmental considerations as its philosophy. This attempt was a symbolic event that demonstrated the transformation of a golf course, a subject of criticism, into a stage for restoring nature.